FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 489 
forest of fairly good annual increment (5 to 6 cubic meters per hec- 
tare, or 71.5 to 85.8 cubic feet per acre) with products worth a stump- 
age value when mature of 23 to 27 francs per cubic meter (12.6 cents 
to 14.8 cents per cubic foot) is valued at 300 francs per hectare 
($23.40 per acre) if the stand is of the lowest age class, 0 to 20 years, 
and at 5,000 francs per hectare ($390 per acre) if it is of the highest 
age class, 81 years and over. The values from the table are applied 
to growing stock only, and in addition land is valued at 50 to 600 
francs per hectare, according to the annual increment it yields and 
the local prices of timber. The land values are from a table showing 
9 ranges of stumpage value on the side, with 4 columns for different 
grades of increment. ‘The land values in this table were made rather 
low, partly as an offset to the fact that the valuations of growing stock 
in the official table were estimated rather high, and partly because a 
profitable return from the forest is considered possible only on the 
basis of moderate land values. ‘This method of valuation gives rela- 
tively higher figures than the method applied to forests under manage- 
ment plans. 
TESSIN 
Both real estate and personal property, less a reduction for debts, 
are subject to the property tax. ‘The income tax applies to net 
income from all sources, including capital taxed under the property 
tax. Real estate in general is assessed at 50 to 75 percent of market 
value. Forests and agricultural lands are assessed on the basis of 
their actual yield capitalized at 5 percent. Formerly technical ad- 
vice was dispensed with in making these assessments, and wood- 
lands and alpine meadows were assessed so high that many appeals 
were taken to court. This led to special legislation in 1920 providing 
for the establishment of yield and capital values of pasture and forest 
land by a commission of experts, including the cantonal forest inspec- 
tor. ‘The increasing use of working plans in forest management has 
made the work of this commission easier. 
VAUD 
The present method of direct taxation, adopted in 1923, involves a 
combined tax on property and income (271, p. 203, no. 9-10). In- 
come is calculated after a deduction of 5 percent on the capital in- 
vested, so that this part of the tax is not important in forest opera- 
tions. In determining the taxable value of capital, all real estate is 
included at 80 percent of its assessed value. The rates of both taxes 
are progressive on a fixed scale by categories of capital and income. 
The initial rates are fixed annually by law, but the rate on income is 
always 10 times the rate on capital. The initial rate is usually 0.15 
percent on capital and 1.5 percent on income, with maximum rates of 
0.85 percent on property and 8.5 percent on ‘income. In some years 
uniform percentage reductions from the taxes produced by the stand- 
ard schedules are allowed. ‘Thus there was a 4-percent reduction 
in the year 1930. In addition the communes may levy rates up to 
the same maximum limits as the Canton, with or without progression, 
but the rate of progession may not be steeper than that of the cantonal 
tax. 
There are also transfer, inheritance, and gift taxes, the rates of 
which are determined annually. Thus in 1930 the transfer tax on 
sales of real estate was 3 percent, and the inheritance or gift tax 
